Crossroads to Screen Beaver Documentary

This week, Crossroads at Big Creek Director and Naturalist Coggin Heeringa, in addition to offering programs at Crossroads, presented a program to kindergarten students at the Boys and Girls Club about how wildlife deals with winter.

Local animals have three options:  migrate, sleep or cope. (And of course, they don’t get to choose.)

Beavers cope. It’s common knowledge that beavers build lodges and dams and gnaw down trees – they are busy as beavers throughout the spring, summer and fall.

So what do the beavers do in the winter? The way researchers describe it, the life of a beaver family in a winter lodge sounds a lot like how most human families spend a winter cold snap. They sit around inside and whenever one is hungry, he or she goes and gets something to eat.

If interested in the daily life of a beaver, Crossroads will screen a Friday Film all about beavers Jan. 12, 2pm. Following the film, viewers will be invited to see the beaver in Crossroads’ Wildlife Exhibit. The screening will be held in the Lecture Hall of the Collins Learning Center, and is free and open to the public.

Crossroads is a donor supported learning center made up of the Big Creek, Ida Bay and the Cove Preserve. All trails are free and open to the public. The Collins Learning Center, located at 2041 Michigan St., is open 2 – 4 pm daily and during scheduled events. Visit crossroadsatbigcreek.org for current trail conditions and cancellations.